Mindflayer

MINDFLAYER
General
Class	Greater Machine
Health	30
Weight	Heavy (Flying)
Rank	5
Locational Damage
Head (2x)	✗
Limb (1.5x)	✗
Conditional Modifiers
Flammable?
Airshot?
Damage Type Modifiers
	- Standard Revolvers (Machinery): 200%; - Shotgun Parries: 150%; - Standard Revolvers (Limbs): 150%;
Radiance Multipliers
Health	1.5x
Damage	1.5x
Speed	1.5x
Appearances
	2-3; 3-1 5-1, 5-3; 6-1 7-1, 7-3, 7-S P-2; The Cyber Grind
Cyber Grind Data

Mindflayers are the fifth Machine-type enemy players encounter in the game, first appearing in 2-3: SHEER HEART ATTACK. The Mindflayer is a floating machine with a teal plastic body underneath, which is a female form with two mechanical legs. Their limbs are articulated with hinges, and five tendrils attached to the machine part trail behind it, which the Mindflayer can control and use for attack.

Behavior

Mindflayers will slowly float around the player, teleporting before doing specific attacks or when the player is far away. Every time a Mindflayer receives 7 damage, be it in a single increment or over time, it will teleport away.

Attacks

Melee Swipe
The Mindflayer will attempt to swipe with its tendrils at the player, dealing 30 damage. This attack is parriable, but will not interrupt the attack.

Beam
The Mindflayer will float still in the air and charge up a blue beam that deals 35 damage. This attack cannot be parried.

Hell Seeker Barrage
The Mindflayer will slowly start raising its arms and swiftly push them in front of itself, casting 5 Hell Seekers that home in on the player and deal 30 damage. The Hell Seekers can be parried and deflected away.

Self Destruct
Upon losing all of its health, the Mindflayer will stop moving, scream loudly, and shake in a fetal position before exploding into a large blue explosion that deals 50 damage. This explosion counts as a player made explosion, meaning it will not reduce style and count for Multikill bonuses. You can punch the Mindflayer with the Knuckleblaster while it self-explodes to fling it where you aimed. It'll explode automatically when it hits a surface, or an enemy, the latter giving you the + STRIKE! style bonus.

Strategy

Mindflayers are extremely disruptive enemies that must be prioritized before anything else.

The orbs they shoot can be parried by the Feedbacker for a full heal. They can also be deflected with the Knuckleblaster or detonated with the Sharpshooter to neutralize them from a distance.

The Electric Railcannon, the Alternate Piercer and the Sharpshooter are extremely effective on Mindflayers, especially when combined with the Marksman Revolver's Coins to amplify its power. Railcoining is an extremely effective strategy on Mindflayers as it wipes out most, if not all, of its health.

The Nailgun is extremely effective against Mindflayers, and its aim spread can be mostly nullified by placing a Magnet on the Mindflayer. Experienced players can use Overheat Storage for practically infinite heatsinks from the Overheat Nailgun for as long as the player can keep the combo up.

Their beam attack, although dangerous, can be a window for a huge amount of damage with Projectile Boosts and Rockets. Brave players can also approach the Mindflayer during this attack by grappling to it with the Whiplash and then using Shotgun swapping and Knuckleblaster punches for a huge amount of damage.

Evading a Mindflayer can be extremely difficult due to their teleporting nature. Sliding is recommended as the smaller hitbox can be helpful for avoiding their beam attack. Stamina should be conserved for their Melee Swipe attack as there is no other alternative to dodging it. For newer players, using the Screwdriver Railcannon will make the Mindflayer unable to teleport until the Screw's timer is depleted. This can be helpful for newer players that are not confident in dodging the Mindflayer, however the downside to this strategy is that you cannot use techniques such as Railcoining to damage the Mindflayer until the railcannon charge refills again.

Using a well-timed explosive attack while the Mindflayer is summoning the Hell Seekers will make a large amount of them reflect into the Mindflayer, killing it instantly or gravely injuring it. The S.R.S. Cannon's Cannonball is especially good for this due to its explosion lingering for a long time if shot in the air.

Difficulty Changes

Violent

Enrages and teleports more frequently when at half health and under.

Brutal

Immune to the friendly fire damage of their own projectiles.
Beam tracking is more accurate and efficient.

Terminal Entry

TYPE: GREATER MACHINE

DATA:
Rare but extremely dangerous, the Mindflayer is a machine that has adapted and mastered the use of Hell Energy alongside its own technological prowess.

The machine itself is only the top part of its apparent body, the rest of which is a plastic shell in the form of a human, which they seem to have built themselves.

The plastic body serves no function and is only for aesthetic purposes.

Despite it being a waste of resources, Mindflayers will use everything in its power to protect the plastic body from harm, even if that means destroying itself in the process.

Mindflayers seem to prefer a female form, though very rare occasions of male forms have also been recorded.

STRATEGY:
- When encountering a Mindflayer, it's imperative to keep track of their actions either through visuals or audio.

- Due to their homing projectiles being fired in a burst, a safe explosive such as a Knuckleblaster blastwave^[sic] is the most efficient in deflecting them.

- Their instant teleportation can make consistent positional advantage quite difficult, but a Screwdriver drill will temporarily stop them from teleporting.